A comparative study of covalent grafting and physical adsorption of PCL onto cellulose

• A growing concern for the environment has, in the past years, directed the research towards a bigger focus on new “greener” materials, such as cellulose-reinforced options. Cellulose is the most abundant organic raw material in the world and it is a versatile material. However, to be able to use it in applications where it is not inherently compatible, a modification is often necessary.1-3 One common method to achieve this modification is to graft polymers onto/from the cellulose chain. This can change the inherent properties of cellulose to attain new properties, such as dimensional stability and water repellency.3 In addition to this, it has been shown that polyectrolytes can be physiosorbed onto charged surfaces.4 Due to this, it is possible to physically modify cellulose by adsorbing a polymer through electrostatic interactions instead of attaching it with a covalent bond.5However, a more detailed investigation concerning differences of covalent and physical attachment of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) onto cellulose, has to the author’s best knowledge not been performed. Therefore, this project aims to compare these two techniques. Covalently bonded PCL was grafted by surface-initiated ring opening polymerization (SI-ROP) from the cellulose. For the adsorption approach, a block copolymer consisting of PCL and a shorter segment of poly(di(methylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) was made combining ROP and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The PDMAEMA-part was then quaternized, which resulted in a cationically charged chain – a polyelectrolyte. This can then be used as an electrostatic linker allowing the PDMAEMA-PCL copolymer to be adsorbed onto the negatively charged cellulose model surface. Finally, differences between the two approaches are evaluated regarding for example surface coverage and grafting/physiosorption efficiency investigated with techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM).

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Polymerkemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Polymer Chemistry (hsv//eng)

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